What happens when the Devil enters the courtroom?

For centuries, that wasn't simply a theological question. There were times when courts treated Satan, demons and witchcraft as very real forces capable of corrupting bodies, destroying crops, causing death and driving human beings towards terrible acts. But as society changed, so too did the Devil — and so did the law.

In this episode, we follow that extraordinary transformation through centuries of legal history. From the brutal machinery of the European witch trials and the strange familiars of English witchcraft cases, to the emergence of forensic psychiatry and the increasingly difficult question of whether someone was bad, mad... or possessed. We encounter a murderer who wrote to the Devil in his own blood, the tragic case of Anneliese Michel, the Amityville murders, the infamous claim that “the Devil made me do it”, and the Satanic Panic of the 1980s.

But beneath these extraordinary cases lies a much more unsettling question. When societies put witches, demons and the Devil on trial, what were they really judging?

Perhaps the Devil has never simply represented evil. Perhaps, changing shape from one century to another, he has also reflected the things we fear, the people we blame, and the explanations we reach for when human behaviour becomes almost impossible to comprehend.

So tonight, the Devil is in the dock. But by the end of this conversation, we may have to ask whether he was ever really the one on trial.

My Special Guest Is Naomi Ryan

Naomi Ryan is a criminal barrister and lover of all things macabre. After qualifying with a Masters in Law from St Catherine’s College, Oxford, she taught criminal law to undergraduates at St Hilda’s College Oxford and University College London before embarking on her career as a criminal barrister, where she both prosecuted and defended. She later moved into the Civil Service, where she has advised an array of senior government and legal figures on matters of constitutional, public and criminal law. She continues to work as an advisory lawyer whilst regularly giving talks about the darker side of legal history.

Listener discretion: This episode contains a very short audio recording connected to the case of Anneliese Michel which some listeners may find distressing. It is included not for sensationalism, but to provide context for the difficult evidence later placed before the court. At the centre of this case was a young woman experiencing profound suffering, and that should never be forgotten. If you would prefer not to hear the recording, please skip ahead when advised.

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